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Soviet Union [USSR] STRUCTURE OF THE FOREIGN TRADE BUREAUCARCY
In 1988 the foreign trade bureaucracy reflected the monopoly
specification system created by the 1930 Decree Number 358. Under
the authority of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and
the Council of Ministers, six central bodies, the Ministry of
Foreign Economic Relations, and numerous FTOs together planned,
regulated, monitored, and carried out all Soviet foreign economic
activity
(see
fig. 23).
Administration
Although the CPSU has ultimate authority over all foreign
economic activity, in the late 1980s administrative control was
centralized in the Council of Ministers. More specifically, the
council's State Foreign Economic Commission coordinated the
activities of ministries and departments in the area of economic
and scientific cooperation with socialist, developing, and
developed capitalist states.
Six central bodies under the Council of Ministries played
important roles in foreign economic relations. The import and
export of goods, services, and resources were managed by the State
Planning Committee (Gosudarstvennyi planovyi komitet--Gosplan), the
State Committee for Material and Technical Supply (Gosudarstvennyi
komitet po material'no-tekhnicheskomu snabzheniiu--Gossnab), and
the State Committee for Science and Technology (Gosudarstvennyi
komitet po nauke i tekhnike--GKNT). Gosplan formulated all import
and export plans, coordinated the allocation of investment and
other resources, and had final authority over all decisions
concerning foreign trade, including trade levels and commodity
composition. Gossnab coordinated the allocation of resources not
handled by Gosplan and, as the central agency responsible for
matching supplies with customers, played a major role in selecting
and allocating imports. GKNT negotiated technical cooperation
agreements and monitored license and patent purchases and sales in
order to introduce new technology into the Soviet economy.
The State Committee on Prices (Gosudarstvennyi komitet po
tsenam--Goskomtsen), the Ministry of Finance, and the State Bank
(Gosudarstvennyi bank--Gosbank) held jurisdiction over the
financing of foreign trade. Goskomtsen established prices for all
imports and some exports. The Ministry of Finance controlled the
balance of payments (see Glossary) and monitored the impact of
foreign trade on the state budget. Finally, Gosbank set the
exchange rate for the ruble (for value of the
ruble--see Glossary)
and managed the system of exchange within the Soviet Union. Gosbank
supervised the Foreign Economic Activity Bank (Vneshnii
ekonomicheskii bank--Vneshekonombank; until January 1, 1988, known
as the Foreign Trade Bank), which provided international banking
services for Soviet FTOs.
Data as of May 1989
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